Staff report

Published on Sep. 24, 2012

Sep. 24, 2012

With a deal for a new arena in Edmonton in flux, Oilers owner Daryl Katz used some of his leverage Monday.

Katz traveled to Seattle to meet with arena principals there and to tour Key Arena, which would serve as the team's temporary home. The Oilers said in a prepared statement that Katz was accompanied by Oilers president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe and Oilers president and COO Patrick LaForge. Broadcast reports said Oilers legend Wayne Gretzky was part of the contingent.

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The visit took place on the same day Seattle’s city council approved a plan by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen to build a $490 million arena near CenturyLink Field, home of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and the MLS’s Seattle Sounders, and Safeco Field, home of baseball's Seattle Mariners.

Bob Black, a spokesman for the Katz Group, said Katz, Lowe and LaForge would attend tonight's Seahawks game at CenturyLink Field.

"(A)s the City of Edmonton is aware, the Katz Group has been listening to proposals from a number of potential NHL markets for some time," Black said in the statement. "After more than four years of trying to secure an arena deal and with less than 24 months remaining on the Oilers' lease at Rexall Place, this is only prudent and should come as no surprise."

Katz previously visited Quebec City, where a new arena is being built in hopes of landing an NHL team.

The Oilers and Edmonton had agreed on plans for a proposed $475 million arena that would begin construction early next year.

But the arena and the Oilers' future in the city were thrown into doubt earlier this month when the team told city council it wanted millions of dollars in new concessions from taxpayers.

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel told radio station CHED on Monday that he sees Oct. 17 as the "drop-dead date" for an agreement on a new arena. Both sides, Mandel says, are growing impatient with the negotiations, but Mandel added that they're "a long way apart."

"We need to have some presentation from somebody as to what this is going to be. Timing is vitally important. We need to move ahead," Mandel said.

In an interview with the Edmonton Journal last week, Katz laid out his case for how an arena deal should look. Black shed further light in his statement Monday:

"We remain committed to working with City Administration to achieve a deal commensurate with what Winnipeg and Pittsburgh have done to sustain the NHL in those small markets. If we can achieve such a deal, the Oilers will remain in Edmonton..." Black said.

Under the original deal hammered out last October, the Oilers are to pay operating costs for the facility along with $5.5 million a year for 35 years to fund its share of construction.

The Oilers would in return get all the profits from Oiler games, trade shows and concerts for 11 months out of the year. Katz would also get naming rights for the building, worth an estimated $1 million annually.

The team would also receive $20 million over 10 years from the city for advertising.

While the city's contribution is $125 million on paper, councillors have already been told that once land sales and interest are calculated, the real figure will be more than $300 million. On top of that there will be millions more to pay for a transit station and pedway to the rink.

But last week, councillors were told in a closed-door meeting that Katz now wants $6 million a year from taxpayers to offset the cost of running the building, along with other concessions.